Starting next year, eBay is launching its equivalent to Fulfillment by Amazon for sellers in the US: eBay Managed Delivery. It’s an end-to-end eBay fulfillment service that will allow sellers to store, pack and ship their products via logistics partners managed by eBay. The eBay delivery service enables you to scale your business and reach more customers in a cost-effective and time-saving way.
As Devin Wenig, eBay President and CEO, explains: “A common request we hear from our high-velocity sellers is to help make delivery of high-volume items easy and fast. Managed Delivery will be a competitively-priced logistics solution for businesses selling high-volume goods in popular categories like electronics, home and garden, and fashion. The implementation of this service will dramatically lessen the shipping burden on sellers while improving the shopping experience and making unboxing fun for buyers.”
The introduction of eBay fulfillment is a further step by the California-based corporation in its effort to keep up with retail giant Amazon and in its ongoing quest to make the eBay marketplace more managed. Traditionally, eBay’s focus has only been on being the middleman between buyers and sellers, facilitating both consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales on its platform. Undoubtedly, this strategy caused eBay to be left more and more behind Amazon in terms of delivery times, having invested in its warehouse network for more than a decade now. Consequently, their continuous warehouse network expansion has been a significant contributor to Amazon’s unparalleled growth. However, unlike Amazon, eBay is not planning on building warehouses. Instead, the company is planning on leveraging the data of its platform and technology to build a network of third-party logistics providers that take care of the details. This allows eBay to provide speedier and more reliable delivery without substantial capital investments – assuming the strategy works out as planned. It’s worth mentioning that eBay’s fulfillment service should not be seen as a competitor to Amazon FBA, but more of a complimentary service that sellers will want to use so that their items will be delivered quickly on eBay as well.
Why Use eBay Managed Delivery?
The most important thing for you as an eBay seller is deciding whether Managed Delivery will be a worthwhile investment for you. While eBay’s delivery service obviously offers a range of benefits for sellers, you might be wise to also factor in the benefits for your customers in your decision. As of today, pricing details are still unknown and will be announced closer to launch, but eBay promises competitive industry prices.
Benefits for Sellers
- Lower fulfillment costs. eBay is declaring that with the competitive rates they are negotiating with their partners, you’ll save on fulfillment and delivery costs.
- Simplified and faster shipping. Faster delivery of items will be achieved by the host of third-party partners that eBay is working with. Leveraging their expertise will simplify shipping for sellers while offering a seamless experience for buyers and sellers alike.
- Seller protection. This is a big one! Sellers will receive the same level of protection for transactions that are executed through Managed Delivery as Top Rated Sellers are currently receiving.
- Increased visibility. Your eBay product listings with a delivery time of 3 days or less are going to stand out over similar product listings from other sellers that offer only standard shipping.
- Save storage space. eBay lets you store your inventory at their Managed Delivery centers so that you save storage space and costs associated with it.
Benefits for Shoppers
- Speedy delivery. The most convincing selling point for your customers in times of Amazon Prime and Same-Day Delivery.
Reliability. Full tracking is offered, so customers know exactly when to expect their purchases.
Customer support. Customer inquiries for transactions using Managed Delivery are prioritized so that buyers receive better service.
Quality packaging. Purchases will be packaged in eBay-branded and eco-friendly shipping boxes that are sturdy and high-quality.
Additional Protections for Sellers Using eBay Managed Delivery
eBay promises some additional protections for items delivered through Managed Delivery:
- Full protection from Item Not Received claims and stockout defects.
- Protection for items that are returned used, opened, or damaged: eBay promises to remove any feedback and defects automatically and to resolve any claims that buyers might have if you give a partial refund up to 50% to recover the reduced item value.
- Protection from false Item Not as Described claims: When such a claim has been verified as false by eBay after you reported it, you will receive a credit to subsidize the cost of your returns. In addition, eBay again promises to remove any feedback and defects automatically as well as to remove the open case from Service Metrics.
With the widespread use of Amazon FBA, it is likely that eBay Managed Delivery will catch on as well – the benefits to both sellers and buyers are obvious. The only unknown to this date that might make the eBay fulfillment service unattractive to use for sellers is the pricing rates.
Are you keen on expanding your eBay business to new sales channels and discovering untapped opportunities? Or in making more data-driven sourcing decisions? Then you should take a look at Algopix!
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Happy Selling!
The Algopix Team
